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Xcel reporting metro power outages after strong storms

Hundreds of people remain without power this morning, after a line of severe thunderstorms swept through the Twin Cities area early this morning.

Xcel Energy says about 1,800 people remain without power this morning. Lights started blinking off shortly after 1:30 a.m.

At one point, the electric utility said more than 10,000 customers in Minnesota were without power during the night, although most of the outages were brief.

Instruments at the St. Paul downtown airport reported wind gusts reaching as high as 40 mph during the storm, and observers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport saw one-inch hail. Trained observers reported inch and a half hail in Mahtomedi, and hail in St. Paul and Hudson, Wisconsin, as well.

The storm followed a 9-degree temperature spike reported by the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities late last night, and a cool front brought the temperature into the low 60s and 50s across Minnesota.